


Betrayal of Self

by ProdigySorcerer



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2018-12-19 12:43:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11897994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProdigySorcerer/pseuds/ProdigySorcerer
Summary: Forced to use the Shadow Clone jutsu during a mission, Sasuke and Hinata beget copies of their selves which due to their limited lease on life are ironically far more open to tackling the problems plaguing the originals.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning this story features explicit mention of sexual subjects.
> 
> The story also paints the canon couples (Naruhina and Sasusaku) in a unfavorable light.
> 
> This story was originaly written for sasuhina month on tumblr with the prompt of "Stress".

“This is so stupid ... ” Sasuke remarked while stopping in his tracks.

“What is ?” Hinata answered back as she too stopped alongside him. 

“Everything, the mission, him err me using that jutsu, us now being forced to carry out their will.” Sasuke complained as he gestured in a arc to signal everything around him.

“Sasuke-kun that crystal is worth a lot of money so this mission is very important to Kohona, furthermore as it can be only detected via very precise doujutsu scouting with both a Byakughan and a Sharinghan it means that you alone are essential ... uhm and I was the Hyuuga available. “

“And because we have to look though a whole damned forest using the Shadow Clone jutsu was completely logical on part of our original selves.”

“Hn, I’ll admit when you say it like that it does sound pretty logical even if we are the clones that do the grunt work. It it just feels so dirty and cheap ... because clones are Naruto’s thing.”

“You better not be implying you’re better than my boyfriend.” Hinata shot back with a smile and a raised eyebrow.

“The jutsu was imperfectly cast though because the real Hinata would never have said anything like that, she would have just sat there and taken any trash talking from my part, so sure in her own moral superiority that she would never humor me with a reply.”

“And you sir are obviously a faulty clone, as the real Sasuke would never deigned to honor me by opening his mouth in the first place.”

“Got me there, I guess knowing that I was created with only enough chakra to exist a few hours kind of shifts my perspective. Yep it’s stressful knowing I’ll die so soon but at least I’m free from Sasuke’s prime ‘gotta act cool’ bullshit attitude.”

“Really, that’s why you remembered how to carry out a conversation ?”

“Hey you’re literally the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my short life with ... ” Sasuke realized how he sounded but he felt safe that Hyuuga Hinata was the last woman on the planet to get any weird ideas in her head so he took off to continue the search.

##

“You know, I don’t think it’s like that ... us dying ... I mean when we dispel or our chakra runs out our knowledge goes back to the real us, they’ll know and feel everything we experienced out here.” Hinata said after half a hour not managing to bear the stress of their silent search any longer.

“Fucking hooray.” Sasuke deadpanned but he stopped as to acknowledge her.

“5 kilometers back I saw a beautiful tree never saw the species before, I’m sure once Hinata uhm prime gets that memory she’ll come back and collect it’s leaves for pressing.”

“Pressing leaves ?”

“It’s a hobby, you let her enjoy it!!!”

“Not that I’m one to judge, I guess my err his hobby is learning new jutsu.”

Hinata did not know what to say to that, she hoped the fact she felt sorry for him was not obvious as she guessed Sasuke would not react well to pity

“So is Naruto going to pound you under the tree before or after you collect the leaves ?” Sasuke smirked and tried not to blush at what he said.

Hinata light up as a tomato but finally she tried to shoot back.

“Definitely a broken copy, not even the real Sasuke is so socially retarded to blurt that out.” and she jumped away to search again.

##

“Wait Hinata I want to explain !” at this and maybe because their allocated area had been searched Hinata had stopped and turned to look at the Uchiha.

“I, he the original Sasuke have been all kinds of stressed out and uhm ... fuck it I’m not guarding his secrets I’ve been stressed out about sex in particular and it finnaly bubbled to the surface. But it was wrong of me to dump it all on you, you have nothing to do with this.”

“Really, it sounds like you have unmet needs ” there was something strange in her eyes as she said this “I would have thought Sakura was desperate enough to go along with whatever perversity you wanted in the bedroom ?”

“Uh that’s it, back then when I still had revenge on my mind I ignored every girl that came my way, but I could have had any of them ... ”

“Not me.”

“True ... but now that I want to move on and want companionship but it’s like I have ‘property of Sakura’ tattooed unto my skin. I never should have acquiesced to her pleading.”

“Worse yet now she’s baby crazy, I want to have a family ... rebuild my clan but I’m not sure she is the right woman for me even if she somehow has made herself the only option.”

Hinata looked conflicted as if two opposing thoughts were battling inside of her finally she spoke.

“These types of relationships I think wind up disappointing precisely because one of the couple has waited so much and built up so much hopes and dreams, when it fails to be all milk and honey stress is inevitable.”

“Uhm I guess you and Naruto ?”

“How that man can be so dense I’ll never understand ! He spent years with Jiraya and yet he’s not catching any of the hints prime Hinata keeps sending him about her needs, it’s so maddening I swear she’s worn down so many dildos down to their core all alone that you wouldn’t believe.”

Sasuke was taken aback by her confession but then he realized that even if they wouldn’t dispel themselves now that the search was over they had enough chakra to exist like a hour at most, he and this Hianat would soon just be memories in their creator’s minds.

“I go back home to my empty little apartment after every day then masturbate in the dark, I don’t know what could be more sad ?”

“Heh, you know since the cloning jutsu created us with copies of whatever the originals had on them at the time they cast the jutsu, my pack has in it besides the shuriken and other tools a shiny purple dildo, my plan was after we finished searching to excuse myself and hide out somewhere and put it to good use, you know relieve a little stress in my final moments before the jutsu ends, I’m sure prime Hinata would be grateful for those memories as well as the recon data.”

Sasuke raised a eyebrow, of course it was purple what other color could he have expected ?

“That ditching me part is that really required ?” he said trying for a devil-may-care smile “Yesterday after our prime selves took part in the briefing for this mission ... you know what he did ? ... Sasuke’s alone time that night was filled with images of your rack and what he’d like to do with it.”

Now was Hinata’s turn to give him a raised eyebrow and dare him to continue.

“I mean there’s something there with you never being interested in him, a kind of forbidden fruit thrill of the hunt thing, besides your undeniably enticing body. So do what you need to do I won’t impose, but I’d love to watch.”

Hinata slowly came forward. getting right into Sasuke’s personal space looking up at the taller man while deliberately arching her back to give him a good view.

“Or we could something more interesting, something that would burn a lot of stress.”

##

“How do you think the scouting is going, I usually do the scouting myself but now to leave it to another even a clone I made ... ” Hinata started talking, if only because she couldn’t handle Sasuke’s silence, she knew that was his way but she was a little stressed out and didn’t need it right now.

“You’re worried you screwed up the jutsu ? I’d think you’ve seen Naruto do it hundreds of times ...” Sasuke shot back.

“It’s not that ... lots of things can go wrong when tracking ...” she stopped as she saw Sasuke’s eyes go glassy and him starring off into nowhere, if she had to guess his clone had dispelled himself and now Sasuke was receiving it’s knowledge and experience sorting through it to find the conclusions.

“That fucking traitor !” he said seemingly not caring he was speaking aloud, but then Hinata saw something even more interesting a satisfied grin seemed to form on his lips while a faint but definitely visible redness spread across his face, was the infamous Sasuke really blushing ?

Suddenly his attention was on Hinata, and he came a step closer.

“You’ll probably want to sit down.”

Hinata thought that was an odd thing to say and then the images and experiences came back from her clone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning this story features explicit mention of sexual subjects.
> 
> The story also paints the canon couples (Naruhina and Sasusaku) in a unfavorable light.
> 
> This story was originally written for sasuhina month on tumblr with the prompt of "Road".

Objectively speaking the road back to Konoha was nothing for two ninjas of their level, a casual stroll at best, on the other hand it was equally undeniable that they were beyond any sort of objectivity or logical thinking at the moment.

Two warriors with their armors, one built with cool disdain the other forged of proper behavior respectively both sundered by their clone’s actions, worse than even their actions the pre and post-coital confessions they had made about their primogenitor’s private lives.

Thus the road would not be a easy one, for neither of them. To Hinata’s credit she did not faint or have any sort of extreme reaction even if she could not meet Sasuke’s eyes for nearly half a hour and when she did she knew her face was still the brightest of red.

Sasuke had elected to wait until Hinata would join him on the journey back, she understood that as a former missing nin if he came back without his partner questions would be asked. 

Now as they were on the road back Hinata had the distinct impression Sasuke had stolen a glance at her backside at least 3 times, whether this was at her literal ass or at the pouch where the traitorous clone had revealed she kept her dildo she did not know.

Thinking of the Uchiha renegade as a normal man with the normal desires was strange, if his confession had been truthful he had been observing her body non-stop during the briefing with Kakashi and she had not noticed it. 

Now she could not help of thinking about other times she’d missed, damn that Hinata for exposing her plan to get a little relief on the way back, she had her memories sure ... the knowledge the impression of great relief and great pleasure but she did not have those sensations themselves, the afterglow.

Even with his own perversity and desires laid bare the real Sasuke was still acting incredibly smug as if nothing wrong had happened as if he had not betrayed his girlfriend Sakura.

“Just like you have betrayed Naruto, aren’t you a bad girl ? A wanton wench ? Don’t you deserve to be spanked right now, this Sasuke is not spent in the least I’m sure you only need to ask.” a voice like her own but which she was sure was the remnant of the traitorous clone popped into her train of thoughts.

The distraction was all that it took for her to smash into Sasuke who had abruptly stopped.

This was a cursed day, of this Hinata had no doubt.

“Look we need to talk, I think we can both agree that the report to Kakashi just needs to note we didn’t find the crystal today.”

“Uhm sure, sure. Nothing else happened.” Hinata replied enthusiastically.

“A bit too eager to sweep this under the rug don’t you say ?” his rebellious weaker self taunted from within his very head “were you hoping for something else ? That’s why you stopped in the middle of the road exactly where she would crash into you, mush those glorious mounds of flesh into you ?”

Hinata witnessed Sasuke turn his head from side to side as if he was forcefully disagreeing with something, but did not seem to be in response to her own remark.

“I’ll also tell him this Shadow Clone tactic was a bad idea.”

“Uhm it was his idea, I know he was your sensei but now he is the Kage don’t be so blunt or he’ll take offense.”

“Whatever.” Sasuke dismissed her advice.

“Plus uhm the plan wasn’t ill conceived, the fault lied within ourselves ... ”

“Our clones you mean, there must have been something ... wrong ... with that jutsu or are you telling me you really hold such deviant desires like ...”

“It will take forever to search every single forest road in this area by ourselves.”

“Hn forever doesn’t seem that much to me.” he had meant it as a brag a testament to his indomitable will but after he said it, Sasuke found disturbing echoes of his clone’s confession of late nights spent alone due to the lack of appealing female company in his life.

“I can always ask for another Hyuuga.” he continued as to put the spotlight on Hinata lest she make the same connection.

It was strange to see her brows furrow in something akin to annoyance.

Sasuke would have called it cute but they were at a weird crossroad now, his armor of distance had been pierced his weapons of charm had never been really honed and now they were made useless by the chains of his “relationship” with Sakura.

He was metaphorically speaking completely naked in front of Hinata, and her in front of him but as this was done against their will there was no bonds of pleasant intimacy between them.

Just the raw pulsing knowledge that there was now another person in the universe that knew of the depth of their despair and unhappiness.

“That isn’t so easy as you think Uchiha-san, you need a Hyuuga at least of chunin rank who could be deployed for such a long period, who isn’t serving in some other capacity, whose Baykughan can match the scouting area of your own eyes.” Hinata replied hoping she’d made her case in a even professional tone.

Even if she was leaving out the final most important criteria, anyone working with him would need to be able suffer his traitorous self and not try anything.

“Don’t you have a younger sister ?”

“No way in all the hells will you team up with her.” her reaction had been that of a older sister trying to protect her younger sibling from spending time with the former criminal and missing nin.

Only after her outburst did she consider that he might take it to hearken back to their shared sexual revelations.

“Oh really ” he began his smirk and his eyes showing the intent to hurt “I doubt Hiashi could raise another daughter as lustful and wanton such as you if that’s what you’re afraid of, me corrupting her.”

Sasuke immediately could sense he had chosen the wrong path in how to deal with her concern, and unlike his clone he would have to live with the consequences this road will take him too.

“Just crawl back into your snake hole and die you black hearted man, you don’t even deserve Sakura you deserve to die alone and unloved!”

Hinata jumped away, hoping the tears in her eyes could be warded off at least until she got outside of his sight.

Normally Sasuke would have no trouble whatsoever outmaneuvering Hinata due to his speed, but her sudden escape was done with her channeling combat levels of chakra for enhanced movement.

Sasuke decided matching her speed and forcing a confrontation would only lead to more fighting so he continued on at his casual pace, soon reaching a crossroad with no ideea what road Hinata took or what road he should take to get home.

Feeling the frustration rise he drew his blade and wrapped it in lighting and plunged it into the ground as if into a foe’s heart.

“Can’t anything in my life be simple, why must everything be a struggle ? Why no clear road ? Why only crossroads and shadow paths and twisting labyrinths ?” he whispered his eyes downcast.

He knew he was being overly dramatic but he felt that today he deserved to vent.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning that this chapter gets much more into presenting the canon couples naruhina and sasusaku as dysfunctional, I'm not trying to say anything about canon this is strictly about this fanfic in particular, which is a sasuhina one.
> 
> Hope I'm not offending Naruto and Sakura fans, I'm not intentionally trying to bash them but in terms of this story Naruto and Sakura are obstacles to the resolution so they won't be presented in the best light.

She was waiting for him outside the Hokage’s tower, for all the world it seemed like something perfectly innocent two team mates joining up before going to give their reports to the Hokage on the mission.

“Hey” Sasuke finally said upon approaching, his head was swimming with possible futures Hinata yelling at him again, her breaking down crying in front of Kakashi, her telling on him to Naruto, he knew on some level that this was just his mind feverishly over-thinking this new emotional hell he had dragged himself in, and Hinata would probably react more sensibly.

But he needed to know and that meant them starting to talk as fast as possible even if he initiated it.

“Hello, Uchiha-kun.” she said in a infuriatingly normal tone.

Infuriating in it’s lack of insight, that is.

Sasuke went to work again, the absence of any words such as “bastard”, ”criminal”, ”pervert” and etc were obviously positive signs, “Uchiha” was a adequate way to refer to him 2 days ago he would not have given it any attention but now it vexed him through it’s ambiguity.

“-kun” was a small sign of hope, it was certainly better than “-san”, he had no chance of a “-sama” after copulating with her he felt, but he suprisingly found himself wanting for a “Sasuke-kun”.

“Too bad we didn’t find anything yesterday, the report to Kakashi-same will be very boring.” she said giving him a conspiratorial look.

Sasuke felt as if a mountain had been lifted from his shoulders.

“Yes, it really was a completely forgettable day.” he said and made to enter.

If Sasuke had looked behind maybe he would have glimpsed a quick glimpse of wounded pride taking over Hinata’s visage for a split second, before she made to follow.

##

“So you both want to give up on using the Shadow Clones to speed up your search ?” Kakashi asked a bit taken aback at seeing the two young ninjas effectively volunteering to increase their workload exponentially.

“I’m sorry Hokage-sama but I could not cast the jutsu the way it was meant to.” Hinata replied.

“The jutsu itself is faulty, the clones deviated from the plan we set up for them and if one pair of clones “ Sasuke hoped he did not put any extra emphasis on the word “pair” “during the test run did that I don’t want to know what would have happened if we created more teams as per the plan.”

“Hm, I see, that’s a known problem with this jutsu the clones are created with a need to fulfill their mission but they are still effectively thinking individuals when used for monotonous tasks outside of a combat environment they sometimes lose focus and ... go on tangents shall we say.“

“I’ve never seen Naruto have this issue.” Hinata inquired.

“It depends on the individual, those that are by their nature more inquisitive, imaginative, prone to questioning their surroundings and selves are hit the hardest by this, Naruto is much too ... mono-focus to encounter this problem.”

Sasuke snickered at this and Hinata had a distinct impression he thought her boyfriend limited, thick and stupid “Or maybe your own displeasure is making you use those words? And you’re just foisting them on Sasuke.” was the thought that made her drop the issue.

“If anything take the fact that this happened as a sign that you have a rich inner life and be comforted by it.”

##

“So how do you think Hinata sees you ? After working with her for a day ... ” Kakashi asked once he asked the woman in question to give them some time.

Sasuke loathed this, surprisingly he found a similar level of hatred for this managerial bullshit Kakashi was using on him to his disgust with Orochimaru’s darker experiments or to the indignant rage he felt when he learned Itachi had prepared a mind control trap meant for him.

This “what does your teammate think of you” was interrogation at it’s most effective time and time again forcing Sasuke to come face to face with the fact that he didn’t understand people their emotions by and large, that he was isolated and alone, that if he was not a talented ninja born to power no one would bother interacting with his loner self.

“She’s like the first believer, the high priestess of the cult of Naruto, in her mind she’s the consort to a god of light and hope so in that context ... I am the highest demon, a adversary and opposite to her beloved.”

“Aha so I take it you two didn’t discover common ground, like ... you both collected stamps on the weekends ?”

“No, our hobbies are quite different.”

##

“So how would you say Sasuke sees you? How would he describe you ?” 

“Sasuke-san ... is a inhumanly skilled and powerful ninja I am sure I was holding him back during our entire mission.”

“Did he say or imply that, that you were keeping him back ?”

“No, but I don’t need him to recognize that fact.”

“Hinata, that self confidence you promised you would work on, please don’t sell yourself short and remember your progress.”

Hinata nodded, Kakashi’s words were encouraging but somehow they still felt like a rebuke.

##

“Hm I’m sorry to hear the clone strategy isn’t working as intended, you are both seasoned ninja your genin days are beyond you so I won’t intervene and micro-manage all tactical field decisions are up to you two.”

“But you must take ownership of the consequences, Sasuke due to your ... unique status I had no problem clearing your mission que to allocate a full month to this, as this is how much we estimate it will take with just two pairs of eyes, Hinata-chan I did the same for you ... I understand this is quite a change in the scope of this mission so if you desire I can try and swap in another Hyuuga.”

“No, I will see this through.” she said instantly she could not waiver and give the hokage both doubts into her and a reason to investigate into what happened.

“Ok it’s done then. Heh though now I see it, you clever shinobi you ... you managed to get me to assign you a full glorious summer month to spend in the forest, a picnic for every lunch break, no supervision you could do whatever crazy things young people do alone in the forest.”

After the two left his office, Kakashi took a moment to replay those final moments. He didn’t think his joke was that bad, maybe a bit too lengthy and wordy sure, but they had looked as if he accused them of being spies and was going to give them over to the torture experts.

Sighing he moved on, it was good to be the Hokage after all, there was no one his subordinates could report his off-color jokes to.

## 

“I’ve been thinking.” she said once they reached the forest and they could talk without any witnesses.

“Hn ?” Sasuke’s eyes were instantly upon her.

“If we create just one clone each, we still double our search speed ... ”

“You’d risk it, then why not use the maximum number of clones then ?”

“We only create one and then we do mixed teams, I with your clone and you with my so even if a clone gets ... lewd ideas the other person will not give in.”

Sasuke thought over her plan and he could not find any fault to it, there would be a gain and with the real them not giving in to whimsical temptations they should be safe.

##

The two clones stood before their creators, the awkwardness was palpable.

“You know the plan ?” Sasuke prime asked.

“We were created with your memories of making it ... ” his clone responded, even as a clone the Uchiha was less patient more ready to jump at any opportunity to take a perceived lead.

“And we totally agree, good job uhm Hinata-chan prime.” the clone Hinata stepped in to finish beaming a smile to everyone around but apparently especially at her creator.

“Good, but remember ” the real Uchiha entered his copy’s personal space “ don’t forget we maybe equal in strength, speed and skill but my chakra is nearly complete and dwarfs your own, my stamina as well lets me just keep going when you can’t ” he had meant in in the sense that he would survive the sorts of glancing blows that would destroy a shadow clone but the subtle giggle of the women around him made him realize the other implications.

“You don’t need to threaten me I won’t ... ”

“So believe me I can and I will end you ... painfully ... if you deviate.”

“And you Hinata-chan uhhhm be nice ?” Hinata offered her own advice to the clone that would pair up with the original Sasuke.

“I will original-chan, happy hunting !”

###

“Well it’s near lunch time, how about we stop in that clearing we saw 1 kilometer back ?”

“Whatever you say Hinata-chan.” the clone acquiesced.

It was a bit strange working with the clone, on the one side it was the normal Sasuke she knew ungodly proficient at all parts of being a ninja, even scouting and silent through all of their time spent together, on the other hand her Byakughan allowed her to perceive subtle mannerism that hinted at a much more friendly attitude towards her even if he did not express it verbally.

She had a theory brewing in her mind, what if the clones brought out facets of their personalities ? What if yesterday both Sasuke and herself had unfortunately hit the “lust” slot on the roulette table as it were ?

What if today she was partnered up with the highly mythical “good” side of Sasuke ?

The one her Naruto insisted was hidden deep down under all the betrayal, lust for power and lust for blood ? The one Sakura was pinning her whole marital future on existing ?

She snickered a little when she realized that Sakura would give literally anything to be here in her stead with nice Sasuke, and then she felt bad at her pettiness in drawing pleasure from another woman’s romantic problems.

Maybe she wasn’t so over Sakura commanding Nruto’s initial affections as she thought she was, especially given the dark thoughts that had plagued her last night keeping her awake for dangerously long.

“I’ll take my food and leave you alone, if I come back in a hour will that be enough of a break ?” Sasuke offered.

Hinata was a bit upset as she’d hoped for some company while eating, at least to ask this Sasuke some questions about his nature as a clone but if he wanted to be alone that’s his right ...

“Hey why are you leaving ?”

“I uhh like to eat alone.”

“Bullshit you want to give me space, I don’t need to be alone for ... that ...”

“Uh I didn’t mean to imply, it’s not my business how you uhm take care of ... uhm ”

“I won’t masturbate ... I’m not addicted ” she said her cheeks now obviously red.

“Look I don’t want to impose ... ”

“STAY ! Look at me and see I’m not lying !!!”

Hinata’s tone brokered no argument and thus she won herself a lunch with Sasuke, well a awkward lunch in which she ate and the Sasuke clone stood there and watched at her insistence before they set out to search again for that damned crystal. 

Given how attentive the Sasuke clone observed her as she ate, it was good that from the treasonous clones pillow talks she basically knew his fetishes and there was nothing food related in the list. 

###

“Team Genbu has finished searching their area, unfortunately the crystal wasn’t found.” Sasuke called to his teammate.

“Aha ... anything else to report ?” Hinata inquired.

“Hn, nothing on the scale of the disaster of yesterday.” came the reply thoguh Hinata was sure there was something, she was in no rush though she would find out once she reunited with her prime self.

“You best dispel yourself and let Hinata know we’re ready and I’ll meet her for the journey back.”

“Yes right, though I have to ask if they’re ‘Team Tortoise’ what are we? ”

“Hebi.”

“Ha ha, I never thought I’d live to see myself a member of the infamous Team Snake!”

“Would you have preferred Taka ?”

“Should I ?”

“Uh people never get the difference of symbolism, from your perspective both Hebi and Taka were against Konoha, no ? When I was the snake I had a certain M.O. the Leaf was not a target but a obstacle to be dodged I was dark and posionous but I was also neutral to you not carring as long as you did not interfere. Which you ... ”

“Which Naruto-kun”

“... insisted on doing constantly, stealth was needed to avoid innocent casualties, when I was reborn as the hawk I threw stealth aside at a strategic level, I wanted you to see me I was more obvious more honest but I was also aiming at you with all my hate. That’s why I thought you’d prefer the snake codename.”

“You know Sasuke-kun the more time I spend with you the more you surprise me with your complexity, honestly I did not think that possible ... so please I see you are not so set in your ways please ” she was now bowing her head and speaking in a very formal tone probably how she was used to asking for important things Saske thought “ please consider this request ... ”

Sasuke did not enjoy where this was heading, the seemingly important request, Hinata’s wordiness approaching the one of her clone from yesterday, the one that threw caution to the wind as she had no more hours of life, exactly like the Hinata before him. 

“Sasuke-san please treat Sakura with love, affection and care !!”

“No.” came the reply, as cold and sharp as the steel of his blade.

“Th, th, the reason I’m asking ... ”

“I know why you’re asking, I know why everyone is butting-in to my life and throwing Sakura at me YOU WANT TO CONTROL ME, YOU VALUE HER HAPPINESS OVER MINE !!! ” Sasuke didn’t mean to shout but the weight of yet another request to love Sakura broke whatever emotional control he still had.

To her credit Hinata did not back down from the screaming of the rogue avenger with god-like jutsus. 

“I’m not stupid you know, I might be just the scout with some special taijutsu but I’m not stupid I confessed to Naruto he knew he knew from then on and he ignored just as before, then you came back then you accepted Sakura and Naruto damn his good nature stepped aside wanted her to be happy with you ... and he saw me and we’re together.”

“But we’re not together ... last night as I tried to sleep my mind kept coming back to us, then Naruto then Sakura, then you again then Naruto then you again ... I couldn’t sleep as my mind bent itself into shapes pouring over the memory of those clones fucking in the forest being happy in the forest together while the real me never knew Naruto’s embrace the revelation came ...”

“What ?”

“Naruto will forever keep his distance, always thinking of Sakura, because she knows she’s not happy with you despite having you but if you treat her right make her happy Naruto will see and he’ll let go ... and he’ll make me happy and loved.”

“Sorry but no.”

“Please I’ll ... I’ll give my body to you ... I’ll do every nasty thing you want if that’s what it takes.” and Sasuke believed her when she said it and to his great shame was having trouble fighting the temptation.

Hinata though took his lack of outward response as a rejection and dispelled herself at the same time fleeing and burdening her prime self with the knowledge of their discussion. 

###

“Got to run, run and hide, run and die, howcanIfacepeople ??? I’m so weak ... why can’t I just die and let this mess sort itself out ?”

Despite the desperation and shame of her surface thoughts a plan was already brewing inside her mind, calm herself down, get contacts to hide her eye color, disappear into civilian society and maybe finally get that art degree she always thought about, under a fake name of course. 

By the time she had reached the village she thought herself safe, after all Sasuke had spent his all pre-teen and adolescent years surrounded by desperate woman offering themselves to him, why would she be different enough to be worth more than a casual thought and a dismissal ?

Unable to face the Hyuuga compound just yet she stopped at a random coffee house and was enjoying their beverage by the window to calm herself even more and gather strength, that was until a sudden flash of light appeared before her eyes and the chair on the opposite side of her suddenly contained the man she had been running her.

A new wave of resentment washed over Hinata, what a fool she was thinking she had outrun him Sasuke had probably been tracking her from the moment her clone had finished her pathetic little offer by dissolving herself and passing all the consequences unto her.

“We’re just tangential acquaintances if someone asks, you’re the girlfriend of my best friend it’s not that strange to share a cup of coffee.”

He laid down the pretense, this soothed Hinata’s nerves as the newest forest embarrassment didn’t seem to be enormous enough to break their silent agreement that what happens in the forest stays in the forest.

“Please let me buy you a coup, you’ll find that this place is very high class and should be up to your high standards.”

“Hn, ok.” and he signaled a waitress for a menu.

“Look Hinata, like I was saying before I lost my ... I lost myself ... people have been pressuring me in that direction since Team 7 was formed, you adding your voice to the choir is not something I’ll hold against you.”

“I i ... despite the manner in which I went about it ?”

“The jutsu is faulty despite them having our uhm natures their choices are just so insane,because they know they will never face the consequences that we will have to live with them. “ Sasuke wanted to pat himself on the back, somehow despite all the odds he was saying all the right things and Hinata was visibly calming down and returning to normal. Now was the time for a change of subject to something more mundane ”Say, is this place a favorite of yours ? Praise like `high class` can be easy to earn from someone like the heiress to the Hyuuga clan.”

The poor Uchiha did not know but he had opened the flood gates again.

“Well Sasuke if you’ll open the menu, you’ll notice that they don’t serve fucking ramen which automatically makes them 5 stars in my book.”

“Yeah yeah you’re a guy but could you please consider how it feels to know ... to know that your wedding menu will either be all ramen or nothing ???”

“I, hn ”

“I don’t want to be that type of girlfriend who’s trying to change her man into someone else but do you know how it is to be with someone and to be constantly afraid that if you once, just once try to have thing be your way ... to not be the one that bends your beloved might decide that’s enough and go back to being a bachelor as he waits for his pink haired beloved ?”

“Uh I ... Sakura sometimes is sometimes there waiting for me when I get back home, I never gave her a key never made any suggestion she do this, I’ve put up warding jutsus but she breaks through them ... isn’t that creepy as hell ?”

Hinata didn’t know what to answer.

“She’s a really strong ninja too objectively speaking, if I was a regular jounin things would be a lot more tense.”

Hinata suddenly leaned on the table and got in Sasuke’s space.

“Do you think if we will it hard enough we can dissapear like our clones do ?” she asked in a mock conspiratorial tone.

Sasuke burst out laughing the first time in he couldn’t remember how long.

“Kami that’s so tempting just let our problems work themselves out.”

Somehow they did it, without having the clear intention Sasuke offered up a link and Hinata had done the same, at the end of that day the chain of secrets shared had grown and was binding them even further.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke calling the team of Hinata and his clone Genbu is a reference to Japanese mythology which has a black tortoise and you can draw some connections from it to the Hyuuga and Hinata in particular.
> 
> This is taken from the site of julywinter which has really cool and well researched theories on sasuhina and other aspects of Naruto, the site can be accessed here:
> 
> http://julywintertheories.weebly.com/the-four-celestial-emblems.html


	4. Chapter 4

“It’s time to do it.”

“Finally enough with the pussyfooting around, it was really getting on my nerves.”

“Don’t be so tense.” Hinata offered in what she hoped was soothing tone.

“I’m not tense.” Sasuke informed her of her failure in a definitely not soothed tone.

“Then start, you have to go first ...”

Sasuke breathed in and prepared himself, his face became a mask of concentration.

“I’m not comparing you with Naruto, if that’s what you’re thinking about.”

“Hn, shut up.”

“I mean the Mass Shadow Clone jutsu is his signature, and he was born with a ungodly amount of stamina from his Uzumaki genes and then when you add in the fact that the demon fox’s chakra has been augmenting his own antural one all his life, I understand that’s a lot of stamina ... and chakra ... and clones”

“Where it counts ... in battle it’s not the size of the chakra pool that matters it’s how you use it ... that matters.”

“You know it would have been more logical for me to see how many clones I can comfortably create and then you could have matched me, your chakra pool is bigger than mine obviously so I’m the bottleneck.”

Sasuke knew this and privately agreed but he didn’t want her to expend herself and then see him match her and still have chakra, that’s why he wanted to go first and make it look like the limit was from himself, but all that his good intentions led to was this frustrating conversation.

###

They had both decided that dragging this out was more dangerous than going full in on the clones and hoping to find the crystal as soon as possible.

This was the reason they were finally sitting in front of a sizable group of their duplicates, which had been sorted into teams and were ready to search.

“Ok, any questions before we start ? Else, good hunting everyone !!!” Sasuke spoke to the troops.

“Uhm yes ... ” one Hinata raised her hand causing every pair of eyes to focus on her, still she breathed in and continued “before you created us, Sasuke-prime-san what was that whole insecurity about Naruto ? I mean you know that you’ve fucked Hinata-prime already and he hasn’t.” 

“Just ... just go.” Hinata prime ordered her face fully red and hidden in her hands from the shame.

###

3 days later

“Sasuke-kun on your left!”

“What ? I don’t see ... ”

“50 meters in front of that old oak.”

“Yeah those patterns ” he leaped upon that patch of grass “ this is it, I can feel it reacting to my chakra.” he said holding up a small quartz-like clear crystal.

Hinata felt her chest swell with pride, her eyes had caught the first hint and now they had the prize.

“Be careful don’t channel a lot of chakra into it you don’t know what it could do to the jutsu that’s keeping you in existence.”

“Uh, yes mom ... I’ll be careful ... let’s get this to base-camp and alert the HQ squads.”

###

Base-camp was a picturesque clearing with a small stream running through, a completely shielded paradise obviously chosen by their creators for relaxation purposes and not for any strategic position.

“Ok, one of us will stay and guard the other will dispel to alert their original to come and pick up this little crystal ... ”

“You’re wondering what it does.” Sasuke said as he watched Hinata play with the crystal between her fingers.

“There is a lot of money attached to this mission, I just don’t know how anyone could want this so much ? Maybe something sentimental ? A wedding band ?”

“Not exactly, the crystal’s unique photovoltaic properties mean that it will enhance any chakra channeled into it, it might end up as a ring but it would be a used only in combat to enhance the user’s lightning jutsus and ... ”

“What ?” Hinata looked up from the crystal that now had small stable arches of electricity on it’s surface. 

“You have the Lightning affinity ?”

“Everyone has a affinity Sasuke.” Hinata countered in a ‘no duh’ tone.

“Yeah I just never thought we’d have it in common.”

“Actually my affinities are Fire and Lightning, it’s just that as the taijutsu expert on the scouting/tracking team I never get a chance to show them off.”

“Tell me about it, I never would have guessed that in the same year as me ... in the Kohona 12 there was someone with the exact same affinity as me.”

“Maybe try looking down from your high horse once in a while ?” Hinata said under her breadth.

“Hey uhm would you like to practice some jutsus with me, I probably know a lot you’ve never even heard of and we could trade.”

“We won’t exist past today, so it’s a non-starter.”

“Yeah, by finding this we’ve ensure that our prime selves won’t create any clones for a long ... long time ... Uh so before we contact them how about we go beneath that tree and ...” he said trying for a rogue-ish smirk.

“Finally, I’d thought you’d never get to it ...” Hinata said taking him by the hand.

###

“Oh !” Hinata prime couldn’t help but let out a sigh at the familiar aching of her mind receiving knowledge from a dispelled clone.

“What happened ?” her Sasuke asked, again she had the good fortune of taking one of the nice ones with her on the team.

“A team in the east they found the target.” she was trying not to let the warmth, triggered by the memories of them copulating, rise up and be visible.

“Is that all ?” damn his inquisitive nature.

“Just dispel and notify Sasuke, I’ll be on my way to the drop site.”

###

Hinata was the first one to arrive, and was greeted by the sight of a sweaty, grinning, laid back Sasuke who was supposedly guarding the crystal.

“Hey babe” was the thought that frightfully jumped into her mind upon seeing him.

“Hand over the crystal, you’re dismissed.” was the more professional words she’d used though.

### 

As Sasuke made his way to the base-camp the thought of Hinata being authoritative in a very arousing manner came into his mind, a split second later he realized this was a clone flashback.

His swift graceful leap through the branches missed it’s mark though when he was distracted by the rest of the memories that depicted him entering a moaning Hinata.

This was 2 more sets of memories in total of him and Hinata together than he ever thought he would have.

### 

“Finally ... “ Sasuke said upon arriving and seeing Hinata holding the crystal gingerly in her hands.

“So this is the end of the mission. we just need to do the clean up.”

They sent the agreed upon signal to the other teams that the search was done and the clones should dispel themselves, the signal consisted of Sasuke launching a Fire jutsu into the sky while Hinata cast a genjutsu in the sky as well making whoever looked at that patch of the sky see the illusion of fireworks.

“Why didn’t you want to use a Fire jutsu as well since you can cast them ?”

“A genjutsu is more efficient chakra wise, plus my sensei is a genjutsu expert I know a lot of them ... why don’t you use more genjutsu ? The sharinghan enhances them greatly I’ve been told.”

“Uh they were always Itachi’s domain not mine ... plus the higher level ones have certain moral implications I’m not found of.”

Hinata thought hell must have frozen over if Sasuke Uchiha had just admitted there were powerful jutsus he wouldn’t use for moral reasons.

The knowledge of the clones dissipating themselves was starting to filter back in to the original’s minds resulting in the following statistic:

Sasuke:

15 instances of catching himself staring at Hinata’s breasts.  
7 instances of catching himself staring at her ass.  
5 instances of awkward implication ridden dialogue.  
3 instances of touching that lingered more than it should have.

Hinata:

20 instances of catching herself staring at Sasuke’s abs.  
5 instances of using the Byakughan to peek at a naked Sasuke.  
3 instances of awkward implication ridden dialogue.  
4 instances of touching that lingered more than it should have.

“Do you think it would have been more humane to let the clones live out their remaining hours instead of ordering them to stand down ?” Hinata mused aloud.

“I don’t want to take the chances that they’d do ... something we might regret. Hn you know my clone’s offer to practice jutsu it’s still valid.”

Hinata giggled as she wondered whether the clone’s subsequent offer to spank her till she called him `daddy` was still valid, though the bemused Uchiha seemed to demand a at least semi-serious reply.

“Sure, listen we still have our provisions there are quite a few trees and flowers I’d love for my collection around here why don’t we put off returning the crystal till the end of the day and enjoy this nature break for a bit ?”

“Ok, we collect your plants then we talk jutsus ?”

“Deal.”

###

As Sasuke was resting after their lunch his eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to Hinata as she was playing in the stream, her feet ankle deep in the ice cold water.

He knew it was ice cold from Hinata’s pokies which were valiantly fighting against the fabric of her shirt, rising both proud and tantalizing, that is if the sudden tightness of his pants were any indication.

If he were a clone he’d have mentioned how good her outfit looked on her, even if in his mind it was linked to the start of her relationship with Naruto.

Overall Sasuke thought this was a much better end to the mission than he had any right to experience. 

###

Sasuke general state of good mood had managed to last the rest of the day, through delivering the crystal to Kakashi feeling out pages upon pages of after-mission reports and receiving his hefty paycheck before returning home to his apartment at sunset.

This pleasant attitude had dissipated though upon seeing the wards he had set up this morning broken, on the one hand he was glad for her these were some top of the line non-lethal defensive jutsus she’d cracked even if she couldn’t hide her entry.

On the other hand the lethal wards he’d seen Orochimaru employ were looking more and more tempting as he entered the front door.

“Hello Sasuke-kun, how was your mission ?” his pink haired ultimately acknowledged self-appointed girlfriend greeted him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Interesting enough canon-wise the data book does say Hinata has Fire/Lightning as her chakra natures exactly the same as Sasuke.


	5. Chapter 5

“Hello Sasuke-kun, how was your mission ?”

He hesitated, there were so many possible answers to that, the safe bet would have been to ignore the question.

“Hn, it was frustrating.”

“Ohh you poor dear, what happened ? Whatever it is let me kiss it and make it all better.” she said with a wink and a flirtatious smile.

Sasuke’s audible groan and his bypassing of her so that he could get to the kitchen and the fridge were both signals to Sakura that despite her best efforts Sasuke had not developed a nurse/doctor fetish.

“But really what’s bothering you ?”

“Don’t you know already ?”

“Why should I ?”

“Well I spent all of this week on a mission with Naruto’s girlfriend, you mean to tell me she didn’t report to him on everything I did ? Or that he didn’t come running to you immediately after to share the latest in Sasuke-related news ?”

“Uh Sasuke-kun ... Naruto’s girlfriend ? ... her name is Hinata, you really should put in more of effort in learning about other people maybe then you’d be more popular.” Sakura changed the subject as she really didn’t like something about his tone.

Actually she realized something was off about Sasuke the moment he opened his mouth.

“Aha” Sasuke said scanning the fridge for something to drink.

“It’s really beyond the pale I mean after all those double dates we had, not to remember her name.”

Sasuke fought down a smirk as he imagined what would happen if he told Sakura the whole story including how he and Hinata both shouted each others names at one point or another during those encounters, he realized he really was being a bastard playing with the pink haired girl this way plus the deception was getting boring.

“Those weren’t double dates ... ” he finally spoke up deciding to voice some of the issues the first Hinata clone had mentioned “they were Naruto dragging Hinata to eat the same ramen she’s sick off for the hundredth time while inviting you as well ... and you dragging me along, every time the whole things ends up as you and Naruto trading inside jokes while I and Hinata look on.”

Sakura’s thoughts were flying by at light speed, “why is Sasuke so strange now ?”, “why is he responding with more than 2 words per sentence”, “what is he implying by bringing up me and Naruto again and again ?” ... “oh no does he think I’m cheating on him ?”.

That final thought was the most disturbing Sakura’s magazines clearly proved that whatever men accused their partners of doing they were doing themselves, so was Sasuke cheating on her ? Would this explain his sudden change in interactions ?

“Sass ... Sasuke-kun you’re not cheating on me are you ?” was what she managed to enunciate.

This presented Sasuke with a valid question, did the actions of their clones imply culpability for the originals ?

He was sure Sakura would have a fascinating point of view on this and would present some interesting arguments intellectually speaking. But the fact that the example to kick of the debate implicated him and Hinata sleeping together he wasn’t stupid enough to answer honestly.

There mere fact that she was phrasing it as a question and not screaming her head off about Hinata meant that Sakura had no idea what transpired and this was just a lucky guess on her part, she had accused him before during fights but quickly relented.

“Hn, no. Whatever gave you that stupid idea ?”

“You deny it !”

“Of course.”

“No no ... all this time you’ve been too talkative the magazines clearly stated that was the sign of a cheating boyfriend, Who is she ?”

“I’m not in the mood, Could you please leave ?” Sasuke answered finally settling for a bottle of mineral water and making his way to the armchair he preferred to do his reading in.

“WHO IS SHE ?” Sakura raised her voice and deliberately used her chakra enhanced strength to pound her foot hard enough to shake the building.

On the one hand Sasuke could not detect any killing intent, this was just a show, Sakura making a point theatrically.

On the other it demonstrated again Sakura’s power, the question of her somehow learning what happened and going after Hinata was troubling.

Sakura versus Hinata in a theoretical white-room match was something that got Sasuke’s brain fired up, there were so many variables clean fight vs ambush, Sakura’s strength being chakra derived vs Hinata’s sealing attacks, the question of speed, would this be a melee brawl ? A ninjutsu firefight ? A genjutsu battle of the minds ?

But to spitball it, Sakura’s training with a Sannin meant that she would have the edge over nearly everyone which made it all the more important for Sasuke to nip this in the bud.

“Calm down and leave. Or leave and calm down I don’t care which.”

“Are you breaking up with me ? Oh I swear I’ll find this no good shrew and I’ll ...”

“No you wont.”

“Hmm sorry Sasuke I let my temper flare you’re right I’m better that resorting to violence like ... “

“No, I mean I won’t let you.”

“So ... so you admit it she really does exist and you needing to protect her means she’s less powerful than me to boot. You slipped up Sasuke-kun now I have a clue I’ll find this this ... whore who thinks she can steal my man.”

“Have you ever heard the legend of Minato Namikaze The Yellow Flash ?”

“What ? Of course I know about him, Naruto’s father, our Forth Hokage, legendary war hero what are you on about ?”

“It is said that Minato was so proficient at space time jutsus that he could create special seals, he would attach to his kunai, whenever a kunai landed he could teleport himself there instantly, it’s ironic that a man so famous of his speed didn’t even need to move one muscle to travel vast distances in less than the blink of a eye.”

“What’s with this story, why are you trying to change the subject ?”

Sasuke quickly bent down and put his hands on the floor, faster than Sakura could react he was channeling vast amounts of chakra into the wooden surface, before Sakura could react she noticed seals and symbols illuminating themselves on the floor awoken by the energy and in the blink of a eye she was no longer in the apartment, air rushing in to fill the void she’d left behind.

###

“And then I was in some field somewhere a hour away at normal run from Kohona, I was so angry, so humiliated I couldn’t go back and talk to that man anymore I went back home and ... uh ..., oh Naruto I don’t know what’s gotten into him ? He was as cold and dismissive as when he was on the run.”

“Sh Sakura-chan we beat some sense into him then and we can do it again. “Naruto said putting a comforting arm on Sakura’s shoulder ”Now are you really sure he’s cheating on you ?”

“Yeees that’s the only explanation, our dates were going better and better he was gradually pushing me away less and less, then this slutty home-wrecker whoever she is came in and now he’s keeping secrets and smiling to himself and won’t tell me why, I mean what reasons has he to be happy if it’s not something he did with either me or you ?”

“Yep you’re right.” Naruto agreed on the one hand it was tearing him apart to see Sakura in such despair, on the other she had come to him of her own volition for help and comfort their friendship really had progressed more and more, Sakura now had him as her prime confidant in all matters Sasuke, and to think back at the academy she wouldn’t even deign to speak to him.

“So it’s got to me another woman, but who ? Everyone in the village knows the epic love between us and none would dare intervene after all the hardships I went through with that man.”

“You got me there Sakura-chan, why now ? Sasuke hasn’t made himself more approachable, how has he found some woman when he still pretty much acts as the second coming of Orochimaru around most people.”

“I don’t know Naruto, my whole life has been turned upside down ... what can I do ?”

“You could pass the napkins, please ?” Hinata intervened.

This has gotten her one venomous glare from Sakura, one “Hinata you’re better than this” stare from Naruto and one napkin holder with it’s precious content inside.

Hinata did not much care at the moment, Sakura was the one that had barged in on her date with Naruto, she looked around sadly at the ramen shop she wanted to hate the man who ran it but it was not his fault that for Naruto “date” and “eating ramen” where one and the same thing.

The two Team 7 friends had gone back to obsessing over Sasuke, her intrusion being forgotten in the grand quest to get into Sasuke’s mind. 

For far too long she fantasized about revealing that she might not know what was in Sasuke’s mind or his heart but she knew what was in his pants, intimately even.

The look of shock on their faces would almost be enough to merit the dissolution of her relationship with Naruto.

“That home-wrecker if I ever meet her, my hands will be around her fat little neck so fast that ... ” Sakura’s rant brought Hinata back to the subject at hand.

“Technically she can’t be a home-wrecker as you and Sasuke aren’t married ... ” another green-eyed glare “ ... yet.”

“Oh thank you Hinata that’s a great comfort ... say he mentioned you two were on mission this week ...”

Hinata’s treacherous heart stopped in it’s tracks.

“... did you notice something strange about him ?”

“Seeing as we’re dealing with Sasuke ‘I can legitimately name my jutsus after gods’ Uchiha ... something strange or out of common ... nope.”

“Too bad, were really short on clues about who this slut is.”

“You keep calling her those names, but you don’t know ... maybe she has her own problems maybe she’s a 35 year old married woman with two kids at home maybe her husband works late and cares more about his job than about her maybe she’s throwing her marriage away to feel some spark of anything ...”

“No, Sasuke wouldn’t betray me for some old married hag with a gross stretched out ...”

“I think Hinata is unto something Sakura-chan, this woman can’t be all bad if Sasuke is ... considering her ... Sasuke is not a bad person thus he wouldn’t go for a bad woman, I say we can find this woman and I’ll convince her the decent thing is to step aside for you and Sasuke.”

Naruto really couldn’t figure out how Sakura and Hinata could both pull off the same “Oh you poor naive optimist” look exactly the same way, and he didn’t really like receiving twice his normal dose of it. 

“I have to go, good luck with saving Sasuke from himself.” Hinata finally said.

### 

Upon exiting she realized she had skipped on her tab, she didn’t really care though.

She also realized that the absent minded nods from Naruto and Sakura meant they did not see the irony in her description of their efforts.

###

The way back to the Hyuuga Compound was long, the way back to her normal life before the mission, before the clones, before her strange intimacy with Sasuke seemed downright impossible.

“Damn that man.” she found herself echoing Sakura’s words as she stood upon a bridge watching the river lazily flow into the night.

“A break up between Sasuke and Sakura means a available Sakura, which at best means a freeze in all progress with Naruto and at worst him going back into obsessed puppy mode and following her around everywhere again.” her thoughts raged in her head.

“All you had to do was keep going let Sakura grind your resistance down, but no ... you had to be the wild card and bring everything crashing down ... and my happiness with it.” she said aloud.

Even if the desire to wallow in self pity was strong, the course for fixing this was also clear, Sasuke was the key, make him take back Sakura make him embrace her more as his girlfriend and Hinata’s life could advance finally. 

So she just had to convince Sasuke to do her this favor, this favor for which that he had started screaming at her clone when she suggested it.

Even Naruto and Sakura found it damn near impossible to get Sasuke to budge even slightly on any one thing, and that was with their bonds of friendship and battlefield camaraderie and with the unique bond between Sasuke and Naruto.

What chance did she have ?

What could she bring to the table that they couldn’t ?

Sakura’s angry accusations still haunted her like faint damning whispers at the edge of her thoughts, those words so bitter, “slut” and “whore”.

The inspiration was nefarious and malign but when the idea formed in it’s dark majesty, she could not deny it’s potency.

She had Sasuke’s lust for her, for the forbidden fruit, as evidenced by their fragments bedding each other twice already. 

May the heavens above forgive her ... to save her relationship with Naruto ... Hinata would need to seduce Sasuke Uchiha.


	6. Chapter 6

She landed on the pavement in some back alley, where the city butted up against the forest she had been traveling through, though city was a bit of a exaggeration as this was a small resort town, surviving of the influx of wealthy tourists who made their way to it to enjoy the scenery and a more private avenue to spend their wealth on excessive parties. 

Most importantly it was civilian and was within relatively easy reach of Kohona at her top speed, Hinata had already shifted her assignments around the most she could so as to devote as much time as possible to “Operation Seduce Sasuke”.

The town’s civilian nature meant that she was not Hyuuga Hinata girlfriend to the shinobi messiah Naruto Uzumaki as she shopped around for seductive make-up and tantalizing lingerie, in the Leaf that would have generated a maelstrom of rumors about her, Naruto and the state of their relationship.

No, here she was a comfortably anonymous young woman with a large amount of money at her disposal intent on using the city’s exclusive luxury boutiques to gear up for her conquest of a comfortably anonymous young man.

###

“Hello, how can I help you ?” the saleswoman was trying to be friendly enough but Hinata knew when she was being evaluated and judged.

“I need to uh look my best this evening.”

“Can I get some more details, where you thinking a new blouse or something more ?”

“Everything, the price is no matter.”

“My my, you’ll have my full attention then ... with our stock and our sister shops you will find what you want. But I do have to ask so that I don’t make the wrong assumptions. A man ?”

“Yes.” she said simply fighting off the instinct to blush because she knew more intimate questions would follow.

“A new man, or maintaining the flame with your current beau or even re-igtning the spark with a lover ?”

“We’ve ... seen each other before a couple of times but now I need to really take things further.” to explain it the situation with her and Sasuke and Naruto and Sakura would have been insane and also revealed her own lack of morality.

“Oh you want to reign him in, make him addicted so he’ll stay for sure ... ”

Hinata wanted to yell “No” but a small part of her mind was whispering "Yes".

“I want ... I need to have him be wrapped around my little finger ...” this was closer to the truth, she would not divulge more.

“Oh, do you swear to use you power over him only for good ? ha ha got you what’s the fun in that ? Now tell me more about this man ... normally I’d work to strengthen each client’s gifts ... make their beauty shine that’s most widely useful but if you’re so intent on capturing this one man I need to know our mark better.” 

Hinata looked at the woman, words like “beyond Hokage level”,”avenger”,”forbidden jutsu specialist” and “god level bloodline” while describing who Sasuke was and what he did would not be understood by her.

“He’s masculine, powerful ... uhm dark ?”

“Uh I get it the silent type not doubt ?”

“Ordinarily yes, but once his walls are down there’s so much going on inside that you feel addicted to his thoughts. ”

“Everyone’s complex, which makes my job never easy, sigh”

“Uh think of them like one of those villains from the classical plays, almost a evil sorcerer if you will.” at this the sales woman gave her a look almost as if asking her if she really wanted this or would she like to back out.

“Uhm definitely though then the evil sorcerer might want the wholesome pure princess ” at this she looked Hinata over from head to toe “but the woman they want at their side, deep down, is a evil queen to rule with. That’s what we will need to turn you into or at least really hint at your potential.”

“Ok let’s start then.”

“Excellent !!! Working with you will at least be easier than the old hags that usually come here, no amount of make-up will hide a pot belly or the wear and tear of decades.”

###

“You really did it this time, teme” Naruto said as a greeting.

“Like fucking clockwork ... Sakura cries and you show up to put the big bad Sasuke in his corner and teach him how to be a civilized empathic citizen of Kohona, no ?”

Naruto’s brows furrowed in annoyance, he had actually put off this meeting as long as he could, it was cowardly of him but every time he got involved in Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship spats it filled him to the brim with discomfort.

“I didn’t lend you my father’s research notes so you could dick around with your team mate that way!”

“Oh she told you about that ? I’m really quite proud of that, I call it `Restraining-Order-No-Jutsu` ... still years away from being battlefield applicable though it took literally hundreds of hand seals to set up each location not to mention a day’s worth of my chakra to cast and energizing it to activate while fast also takes up a huge amount.“

“Ha ha Sakura she thinks you have another woman, but deep down ... deep behind the biceps and the clear skin and the spiky hair is the heart of a nerd ... you barely got Sakura no way in hell you’d find another girl to handle your bullshit and your `look at me I’m so smart and obsessed with forbidden jutsus that make you memorize 1000 seals and don’t do shit` attitude.” Naruto said hoping to put Sasuke on the back-foot in the conversation but also start laying in some truths.

“So did you chicken out this time as well ?”

“Explain, bastard.”

“When Sakura came wailing and desperate to be comforted, to feel wanted did you finally take the chance to be with the girl that you really want to be with ?”

“Now you shut up, Hinata is ... ”

“Maybe she’d be into it, join you two in the sack, who knows ?” he actually knew Hinata would probably snap if Naruto really suggested it and castrate him in a amusing manner.

“Shut the fuck up and listen ... ok trash talk me and Sakura and Kakashi we know you and can handle you ... Hinata doesn’t need your shit so don’t you go opening wounds for her, I know she had to deal with a lot of pain seeing me chase after Sakura when she was right there and she’s being a great sport and super supportive of me still being friends with Sakura so I’m warning you don’t go there and push those buttons.”

Sasuke raised a eyebrow at this Naruto was much more aware of the sittuation around him than both he and Hinata gave him credit for, but he still didn’t knew the depths of dissatisfaction Hinata had with the status quo.

Naruto was looking at him while he was thinking this over and decided to power on through.

“You know Jiraya ... ”

“I’m familiar with his work ... “

“He died alone, Sasuke can you understand that ? He died in a enemy city, fighting for a village he never stayed in ruled by a woman that he loved more than the world and who never loved him back ... ”

“To hear the snake tell of it apparently Tsunade loved him in her own way ... ”

“Not in the way Jiraya wanted or needed ... a cold comfort is still cold ... I’m being serious Sasuke without Sakura’s love that will be you in the future.”

“I’m the Snake maybe you should be the one afraid about his future, Toad.”

Naruto just stood there and watched his best friend point out the fears that kept him up at night, although he realized to be fair he had offered them up on a platter Sasuke was sharp enough to see that he had ruminated over Jiraya’s fate enough to rightfully throw the accusation back at him.

“You’re just impossible aren’t you ? Come on let’s go to a training ground and fight this out until we can reach a conclusion.”

To most humans Naruto’s suggestion made no sense, but Sasuke knew that for whatever arcane reasons when two high level ninjas battled they entered a state where they needed to understand their opponent and they did so to such a degree that they could read their hearts and all barriers to communication melted away, two opponents closer than friends, brothers or even lovers.

“No ! Now get out off my apartment.”

Which was why Sasuke could not afford to do it, if during the fight he slipped up and revealed what happened between him and Hinata all hell would break lose.

“This isn’t over, teme.” Naruto said but he acknowledged Sasuke’s wishes and left.

Sasuke shut the door and grunted, he had some seals he wanted to optimize for a Lightning Release jutsu he was working on but this encounter with Naruto had put him in entirely the wrong state of mind to do productive work, his stack of porno mags on the other hand called to him like a siren ready to release him of all this stress.

As he took them out and moved to the couch as to get more comfortable, something was on his mind.

Or rather someone, Naruto, who had been incredibly diplomatic and understanding given his usual standards he had expected a speech ranging from half a hour to two full hours on how Naruto’s personal journey from orphan to Hokage-in-waiting all his pain and suffering meant nothing if Sasuke didn’t take Sakura back in.

What he got was the bullet point version though, which meant Naruto wasn’t putting his heart in it.

Maybe he didn’t give it his best because he was secretly afraid that it’d work ?

Maybe Sasuke’s accusation was more than a opening salvo in their verbal battle, maybe Naruto was taking steps to finally get Sakura ?

Or maybe Naruto was secretly enjoying seeing Sakura suffer from her love, given that said love wasn’t for him, maybe he relished in seeing Sakura getting what she wanted but still not being happy ?

“Or maybe I’m just a horrible bastard who needs to think that other people are driven by malice just like me ? ” Sasuke said aloud “Just so I can get through the day without confronting the fact that if I die the world only loses a horrible evil man.”

He elected to get back to his tantalizing imagery, starting a perverse quest for an adult model that reminded him of Hinata in the slightest.

###

After returning to the Leaf and applying the subtle make-up,the inciting perfume, donning the tantalizing lingerie and the new decidedly more risque clothing, she cast a transformation jutsu upon herself ironically using the image of her normal everyday self with her normal boring clothes.

A Inuzuka would detect the perfume though and a Hyuuga or Aburame could detect the subtle jutsu but she did not falter, she made her way to Sasuke’s apartment let them catch her, since when were nicer clothes or make-up illegal ? 

Her scouting instincts had served her well, as instead of going right to his door she stood upon a nearby rooftop and observed the apartment with her Byakughan.

She had expected to catch him alone, maybe with Sakura pleading her case or Kakashi lecturing him but as Naruto’s unmistakable chakra came into view it made sense that he would be the one with Sasuke.

In a way it was intensely nostalgic, she hadn’t ... observed ... Naruto from afar since they had begun their official relationship, this took her back to her teen days.

She wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Now Hyuuga Hinata had grown enough as a ninja to be able to read lips with her Byakughan for any distance within her range, but her as woman was not ready at that moment to here Naruto give his usual “Sakura-chan is so cool” speech.

“Sakura-chan is so smart.”

“Sakura-chan can heal any wound.”

“Sakura-chan is so strong.”

“Sakura-chan is the first ninja in her familly, you know how hard that is for her ? To not have any father or mother to train her and give her unique jutsus ,,,”

“Sakura-chan is such a excellent cook.”

No she definitely wasn’t up for hearing that the one hundredth time again Hinata thought to herself as she pulled out a canteen and took a long gulp, stolen from Father’s own personal best stock if she ever needed some liquid courage it would be for what she was about to do next.

Fortunately Naruto took off, leaving in the completely opposite direction, with his vast arsenal of powers and modes surely he should have been able to spot her, if he’d have cared to check.

“But no, you never look in my direction of your own volition Naruto-kun ... perfectly sums up this whole mess.” she whispered to herself.

She began her observation of Sasuke anew trying to work out the best time to approach him and to work up the courage to do so when she saw him doing a certain set of movements.

“Oh Sasuke you naughty naughty boy” she giggled at her own lewdness “well if that’s not a sign from above I don’t know what is ... just need to wait for you to get yourself hot and bothered before stopping by for a chat.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where it gets completely explicit, so if you were reading for some light teasing and tasteful fade-to-black this is not it, you've been warned.

Sasuke acknowledged the knocking on the door with a supreme annoyance, he was about half way through with his “stress removing ritual” when the sounds started, it couldn’t have been Naruto he seemed determined when he told him he’d leave so it must be some other annoyance he thought a salesman or some such not knowing on who’s door they were knocking.

He decided to just ignore whoever it was and they would go away, problem solved Sasuke could continue on un-interrupted with his disappointing shell of a existence.

“Sasuke ... Sasuke hello it’s me Hinata are you home by any chance ?”

Hinata’s voice changed everything, a Byakughan user would probably peep into his apartment before giving up catching him in the act.

“Yes, wait a second I’ll let you in!” he shouted as he pulled up his pants and made to hide the magazines.

“What are you doing here ?” he said by way of greeting intentionally playing up his annoyance to keep her distracted as to not notice the numerous bodily signs of what he had been doing himself.

“Uhm those joint training sessions you offered for Fire and Lightning jutsus, I wanted to take you up on them ? Is this a bad time ... is Sakura here ?” Hinata responded brazingly brushing up beside him as she entered his apartment through the small gap he had left open when answering the door. 

This raised some questions for Sasuke, Naruto had been here so obviously Sakura had poured out his heart to the blonde about the troubles she had in her relationship, again, and from her clones frustration she knew Naruto did not keep those to himself by throwing himself into fixing his teammates relationship he made waves in his own.

In short Hinata should already know at the least that Sakura wouldn’t be here, Hinata also smelled strange not bad mind you but strange, her usual subtle perfume was replaced by something more powerful, Sasuke was no Inuzuka so he only detected a hint of spices and honey in Hinata’s new perfume, again he was no expert but he would guess it was a more upscale fragrance.

Her clothes were subtly different as well, it was the same lavender color scheme but somehow the color was bolder, her shorts were well quite urbanely minute exposing her shapely legs which he dared not investigate much further lest he be caught.

Her jacket was sport-y but it somehow looked both more expensive and less durable, there was no mistake this was a far cry from something combat ready.

It was also open giving him a full view of the silken tank top which she wore beneath which seemed to have difficulty containing her much blessed bosom.

These were too many small differences to simply ignore, silently he activated his sharinghan at it’s maximum power as he would need the maximum insight it could provide to analyze this person’s chakra.

“Hinata” seemed worried about this development but presented herself for him to look over, even striking a pose, that only brought back to mind what he had been doing before she entered.

“Seen enough ?” she finally asked.

“Hn, I needed to check you over there’s something off about you.” he said having found no foreign chakra every parameter suggesting a normal Hinata albeit one with a different wardrobe apparently.

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t believe me that you yourself are not a spy ?”

“I don’t believe that was a scan maybe you are trying to use your genjutsu on me and bend me to your perverted will ...” she said stepping closer to him.

It suddenly clicked in Sasuke’s mind, how Hinata’s clone had confessed that she felt that her relationship with Naruto would fall apart if Sakura were single again, her desperate offer, his and Sakura’s fight, Naruto knowing and trying to patch them up, Hinata suddenly appearing entering his apartment dressed to tantalize.

He closed his eyes and tried to let the anger run it’s course without any external action.

“I know what you’re doing ...”

“What am I doing ?”

“If this is the same offer as in the forest ... your boyfriend’s stubborn nature must have infected you I already said no.”

“It’s not the same ... ”

“Uh I ...” he wanted to start and apologize for his assumptions

“This is the real me ... not a clone ... I’m not handing out promises I intend to skip out on.”

“Just ...” he wanted to yell at her to get out but he couldn’t find the will “ your offer doesn’t tempt me. I already explained it back then why I loathe you people.”

Hinata realized he meant people who were pushing him into Sakura’s arms to make her happy, she got an idea and got really into his space, if one of them made a move they would be entangled.

“I know you’re lying about not finding me tempting ” she said shifting her eyes downward to his crotch he had been semi-hard their whole interaction due to her chosen the perfect moment to interrupt him then just as fast they made eye contact and realized they were both blushing, this wasn’t exactly a S-class seduction more like two beginners uniquely connected and the chains of lust went both ways.

“And forget about Sakura, you have no duty to her or to me. But I can see your body tearing itself apart, you’ve been tensed up and unhappy for so much time and nobody cares ... ” she said putting her hands on his chest as he’d been wearing one of those always open shirts.

Her training with Gentle Fist and her doujutsu derived knowledge of the human body allowed her to send forth a infinitesimal amount of chakra through her fingers, stimulating his skin and the muscles beneath wherever her hands lightly roamed.

“You uh don’t care either you haveaagenda” Sasuke managed to say still logical but running out of breadth. 

“I do ...” she made a point to look away this was not simulated shame but the real thing “but for it I’ll make you Sasuke feel better not someone else you and you alone, you’d be happy for once even if there’s a price ... don’t you want to be happy ?”

Sasuke struggled he should have shoved her out the door the moment he figured her out, he had been near satisfaction when she came and now she was throwing herself at him, the one girl that never showed any interest the girl he had memories of laying with her but no satisfaction.

Her hands were now around chest, her breasts were pushing up against his chest this was a full on embrace.

“Please, let me make you happy ?” Sasuke saw her lips move but somehow the voice wasn’t completely Hinata’s there was something else in there tugging at his heart.

He was weak, for all his strength and intellect his heart was always weak, back then it was a hunger for power right now it was hunger for a fleeting night of pleasure and happiness and beauty. 

“Yes.” he broke down.

Hinata got up on her toes and placed a solitary kiss on Sasuke’s lips to seal the arrangement, fittingly they couldn’t help but keep their eyes open for the experience.

A few years ago during a extended surveillance mission in the middle of nowhere, Team 8 had made their camp as they normally did, the boys had erroneously thought Hinata has fallen asleep early into the night so they had discussed among themselves more worldly subjects. 

Kiba had mentioned that in whatever country you would visit in every brothels a kiss was not something offered he explained that the women who sold themselves in those places needed to keep at least one thing special at least one pure thing they could give only to a man they loved.

Thus Hinata intentionally gave this to Sasuke, to prove maybe to him but assuredly to her that this was no simple business-like transaction, she would give all of herself to him ... so that he in turn would save her reltionship with Naruto.

###

She took his hand, it was strange seeing her smaller hand pulling on his much larger one as she lead him to the couch, she pushed him down then somehow managed to slip to his lap.

“I need to know you’re serious about this.”

“You don’t trust me to keep up my end of the deal ?”

“No.”

Her “No” hanged in the air between them just like his “Yes” had done before.

He moved to grab his phone and quickly called someone on speed-dial.

“Sakura ... yes it’s me I need to ... talk about what happened.”

Sasuke stood there phone to his ear as he listed to Sakura apparently talking on and on, Hinata for all of being in Sasuke’s lap could not hear what she was saying clearly, but on the other hand it seemed that Sakura wasn’t hearing her breathing at least.

“Yeah well no you’re wrong about that I’m not cheating on you.”

Hinata felt a little ray of sunshine on the inside at seeing Sasuke keep his side of the bargain and to provide some extra incentive slipped her petite hand into his trousers.

“Hnnn ... no no go on we need to fix this I agree ” Sasuke tried to not let his arousal show in his voice.

“What ? O great if both you and Naruto thought this up it must surely be a genius plan.”

Hinata could not help but raise an eyebrow.

“I said I’ll put in the effort so don’t nag me anymore ...”

Hinata with her free hand moved the pillow and retried the bottle of lubricant from Sasuke’s ow so genius hiding place.

“But do they both have to be there ? And has Naruto spoken with her ? It seems you’re pushing a whole lot on the poor girl.”

Hinata liberally applied the lube to both her hands then turned her attention back to Sasuke’s manhood.

“And how many meeting do you think this will take ? ... yes yes I understand this is new to me as well”

Hinata now had managed to somehow get Sasuke’s pants down around his ankles, and now applying both a a “unique variant” of Gentele Fist to Sasuke’s cock, Hinata really thought she should thank the alcoholic spinster auntie of the clan who taught her this trick when she was drunk out of her mind one time, meanwhile blowing air unto the already sensitive area as to heighten his reactions.

“Ah I got to go ... there’s something in the oven ... yes ... point is I agree and we’ll sort out the logistics later ok ?” he shut the phone.

“That’s all ? One short conversation and you’re back together ?” she said trying not to let her own desires creep into her voice, emotionally it was still a huge lap she had to do to sleep with Sasuke but physically she was beyond ready, her satin panties practically a swamp.

“It’s never that easy, see Sakura didn’t just sit and cry in her room no she had to analyze, make plans, prepare some countermeasures to this happening again ...”

“Meaning ?”

“Meaning we’re back together but I had to acquiesce to some `couple therapy` ...”

Hinata could not help but admire Sakura, she often thought about outside professional help but she chickened out every time, hence winding up here in the Uchiha’s lap staring down at his erect penis in a effort to shore up her relationship.

“Well it’s sort of like couple therapy, we won’t be seeing a professional we will be guided to martial bliss by our good friends Naruto Uzumaki and Hyuuga Hinata because they already agreed to share with us the hidden knowledge that makes their relationship rock solid.”

“What !?!”

“Blame your boyfriend ... also I’ve been thinking how do we do this ?”

“Uhm well our clone already did it so we both know you can uhm find it ... don’tlookatmelikethat”

“No I meant ... Look there’s obviously going to be multiple sessions of this talk it out bullshit let’s keep it fair one meeting ... one encounter ?”

Hinata’s hands stopped moving she didn’t realized she was playing with Sasuke automatically as they spoke.

“Ok.” she said looking him in the eyes.

“Good” he said flashing her a predator’s grin.

“Wait ... one encounter after one meeting so you need to start going then ... we make you happy.”

Sasuke’s disappointment flashed on his face but he nodded his agreement.

Hinata’s hands had already started working again.

“Now to show you I’m not that bad let’s finish this you’ve been held back much too long this night” she said her hands moving faster and faster with more more chakra flowing to them activating Sasuke’s loins in a way he didn’t knew it was possible.

Mean while Hinata leaned on Sasuke’s expansive chest as she worked his cock, their shared position almost innocent as Sasuke freely inhaled more of her perfume and watched with interest as one of her breasts popped out due to all the motion.

Hinata could sense Sasuke was near from his breathing, from the twitching in her hand from that unmistakeable scent in the air.

“Good boy” she said despite herself as Sasuke, the real one, finally erupted in her hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to my girlfriend as her birthday is tomorrow, I also hope to still have girlfriend beyond tomorrow if I explain that yes I'm writing fanfic yes it's Naruto fanfic yes it contains sex.


	8. Chapter 8

She honestly would never have expected Sasuke to have such a large, inclusive and well organized collection of cleaning products at his home, when Hinata got back to her clan’s estate she was perfectly clean but she sure as hell didn’t feel so.

It was a weakness but Hinata made her way directly to the kitchen to blunt the emotions raging inside her with some ice cream or any kind of sweet really, she honestly couldn’t understand Sasuke’s aversion to sweets how could such a man exist ?

“Hi Hinata.” Naruto’s cheerful tone greeted her the moment she entered and her hearth stopped.

Surely Naruto could only be here because he found out and was going to dump her for being a treasonous floozy.

But at least he would be quick with his justice.

“Hello Hinata-chan ...”

“Hinata-chan ...”

“Hey !!!”

The rest of the clones all gave their acknowledgment, Naruto was famed for his mastery of the use of clones but she never would have imagined he would use them to break up with her, maybe have them all yell completely deserved insults at her ?

After a second Hinata noticed Naruto and each clone was holding or reading a magazine, her kitchen table had seemingly vanished under a huge stack of the same magazines.

This wasn’t her end as Naruto’s girlfriend, this was something else.

“What’s with this ?” she asked to who she hoped was the original.

“Uhh a study session ?”

“What ? What are those magazines ? And why do you need to do this at my house ?”

“They’re from Sakura-chan they umm have a lot of very helpfull information about relationships, which I need to read up on to help her and Sasuke.”

“Give me that.” she said taking the magazine from Naruto’s hands and inspecting it, the cover flaunted an article ‘Want to make your man more interested ? Flirt with his rival, he’ll notice !!!’.

Hinata tried not wince at how on the nose it was.

“You know I really doubt this.” she said in a more acidic tone that what she’d hoped for “So you’re going to bury Sasuke under a mountain of articles until he learns to be a loving boyfriend ? And why are you in my kitchen in the first place ?”

“Uh I’ve got a lot more clones back at my apartment we need as many eyes working in tandem as possible to get ready in time. ”

“In time for what ?”

“And this was the second reason I needed to be here. Uhh this is a long story but me and Sakura thought of a plan it’s like a series of talks, knowing the baka you can think of them as war time diplomacy really and we ... ”

Finally he was getting to the heart of the issue, Hinata tried to play the situation as if she wasn’t there listening on Sasuke’s talk and knew everything.

A depressing bit of intuition came upon her, if she was there at Sasuke’s side when he received the call Naruto had probably being with Sakura when she made it.

“How many date nights ?”

“Huh ?”

“How many date nights are we going to lose because you need to work on re-building Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship ?”

“Thing is ... I need you by my side ” how her heart fluttered at those words “we need to show them what a healthy couple is like. It will take a long time.”

“If you were any other man ... Fine I’m with you.”

“Wow Hinata you’re the best ! Now first thing is we’ll need a space to do this, here’s a bit of a jam if we use Sasuke’s house he has the advantage likewise for Sakura and she also insisted that if we hold it at my place Sasuke will see it as still her home turf. ”

“I have to agree with him on that.”

Naruto looked like he wanted to linger on her response a bit more but he continued.

“So you’re the best bet, a neutral party we can chill at your place and ...”

“No, no absolutely not!”

“Why ?”

“I already promised I’d devote the time to this, but we’re not using my clan’s compound for this ... summit. Do you know how it was to grow up both a failure in martial skills and to have your whole extend family talk behind your back how you couldn’t even get the and I’m sorry honey ‘friendless orphan idiot’ to notice you ? How many times I cried in my room and swore I would stop chasing you just so people around me would have one less reason to mock me ?”

“I never thought of it that way.”

“And now that we are together there’s no way I’m going to become the laughing stock by bringing Uchiha drama here in this house.”

“So you’re out ?”

“I’ll help you but we’re not using my house.”

“Bu where are we going to ... ?”

Hinata felt she was at her limit and didn’t want to let this continue.

“Are you even the real Naruto or are you a clone that will report back ?”

###

“Naruto, hello Earth to Naruto ?”

“Oh sorry Sakura-chan, I was going over what my clones from Hinata’s place did. She’s in but she won’t let us use the Hyuuga compound as a location.”

“Damn. Where you being an ass again ? Did you ask politely ? Doesn’t seem like Hinata to refuse you.”

“Uh let’s say it’s not an option and move on.”

“So one of our homes ? I feel that we need some place that is neutral where no one is on the defensive or an intruder.”

“How about the Hokage Tower ? It has hundreds of conference rooms we could book one and be done.”

“Be real. This is ... personal stuff the office of the Hokage doesn’t care and I don’t want it set in some official record somewhere that I’m having couple problems.”

“The trick is that technically you, me and Sasuke are still a team even if we mostly work solo. So every team has the right to requisition resources like a conference room to run team building exercises, tactical simulations etc. We could easily bullshit a reason why we should be given a room for a few hours every week.”

“Wow you’re really serious about being Hokage if you studied up on all these procedures. But what about Hinata ?”

“Oh yeah, she ... isn’t part of the team.”

“We need you guys as role-models.”

“Uh you know we could claim she is your replacement. Now hear me out, teams are supposed to keep a list of other ninjas that can be swapped in to maintain a coherent team.”

“Ok” Sakura said with a raised eyebrow.

“And with your duties at the hospital you’re more tied to the village. Our team is me as a mid-ranger Sasuke has enough firepower to be the long range expert and your fighting style is close combat. Sasuke has access to powerful genjustu among his arsenal I mostly do njinjtsu and you do very destructive taijutsu.”

“So you as a close combat taijutsu specialist who enhances her taijutsu with chakra you’re sorta like Hinata who is also close combat and who also has a chakra fueled taijutsu style.”

“Yeah but I also heal.”

“True but I can mostly regenerate and Sasuke is used to fighting without a dedicated healer. Plus I’m pretty sure Hinata is qualified in first aid.”

“That’s pretty far from being a medic-nin Naruto, I’m also a natural at defeating genjutsu.”

“Oh Hinata is also pretty strong in that you know with training under Kurenai ... oh Sakura-chan this is just to have a motive to get her access, Hinata can never replace you.”

“Except in your heart.” Sakura wanted to say but she remained silent.

As Naruto continued to walk her though how they would convince Kakashi to grant them a room for these tactics meetings Sakura could help but feel that Hinata taking her place as the object of Naruto’s affection wasn’t the relief it had seemed to be.

It even seemed ominous in a way she couldn’t understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a smaller chapter, and one that is lacking in Sasuke x Hinata I felt the need to set up some things before diving in into the relationship drama.


End file.
